


Starting Over

by NobodyGivesAShit1969



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angry Rick Grimes, Baby Daryl, Bed-Wetting, Diapers, Fever, Insecure Daryl Dixon, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, Sad Rick, Sick Daryl Dixon, Virus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-01-23 21:52:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21327247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NobodyGivesAShit1969/pseuds/NobodyGivesAShit1969
Summary: A strange virus strikes King County and attacks many people, including Daryl. The effects of this illness depends on the person's deepest desires and fears, and Daryl's deepest desire is to be a baby. Will Rick, Daryl's best friend, be able to help him through it?
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes, Lori Grimes/Shane Walsh
Comments: 18
Kudos: 85





	1. A doctor and a million needles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Annonb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annonb/gifts).

> I've written this story on Wattpad (in Spanish), but I've noticed that no one reads it so I decided to translate it and post it here uwu  
Enjoy!

Rick knew it as soon as he opened the door of his home and saw his friend's eyes, that reflected feverish flames. His face showed pure tiredness due to his headache, and the rest of his body was covered by a thin layer of sweat; his hair stuck to his forehead, ears and temples; his heart beat heavily in his sore chest. 

"Oh, Daryl…" Rick felt horribly by just thinking about all the suffering his friend was going through. Without giving it a thought, he took him into his arms and carried him to the inside of the house, where he laid him down on the living room couch. 

"C-cold" Daryl trembled and his headache worsened. Rick nodded and ran towards his bedroom closet to fetch a blanket. Once he had it, he stretched it out and used it to cover Daryl's weakened body. The miserable guy looked at him and smiled slightly. "Th-thanks" He whispered, clinging to the edges of the blanket with his fingers. 

Rick nodded.

"I'll get something for you to eat and then we're going to the hospital, alright?" The older man explained, causing a strange noise to escape Daryl's mouth. Rick looked at him, puzzled. Had Daryl just whined? "What, don't you want to go?"

Daryl huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, protesting and shaking his head. Rick stared at him, surprised. 

"What's wrong?" Rick put his hand on Daryl's right shoulder and looked him in the eye.

Daryl pursed his lips and said: "Don' wanna go", looking at Rick as if he was his usual, deadly self. 

Rick let out an inside "wow" and, almost not being able to stop looking at him, went to the kitchen to make him some soup. Once he was there, he started thinking about his friend's strange behavior and the reason why he had suddenly stopped being "tough". 

"It might have something to do with the fever", he thought. And that was the only logical explanation he could come up with at the moment. 

Once the soup was ready, Rick grabbed the bowl and took it to the living room, where his friend was. When he got there, he was surprised to see that Daryl was looking at him curiously, with his eyes wide open and his thumb in his mouth. Unable to believe his own eyes, Rick set the bowl on the coffee table and scrubbed his eyes. Was he actually watching Daryl, the toughest person he had ever met, suck his thumb as if he was a baby? 

"Wha's that?" Asked Daryl, still sucking his thumb and watching as steam came out of the hot liquid in the bowl and rose to the ceiling.

Rick looked at him, even more puzzled. Was that a joke? What the hell was going on? Why was his tough, savage friend acting like a child? 

Trying to calm down, Rick took a deep breath and tried to think about what he could do to get out of that situation. Yes, Daryl was acting weird. Yes, it might have something to do with the virus that was making everyone in town sick. Okay, then the only thing he had to do was take Daryl to the hospital so doctors could run a few tests and gave him some medicine to neutralize the symptoms. But Daryl didn't want to go to the doctor, which made the situation difficult for Rick to solve. It was obvious that the younger man would fight back in case Rick tried to force him, so he had to find another way. 

Daryl kept looking at the bowl of soup and the steam that came out of the hot liquid. Rick saw that his friend looked at the soup as if it was something he had never seen before, so he took the bowl in his hands and tried to give it to Daryl. But the guy refused to stop sucking his thumb, so Rick tried to force him. 

"Noo" The hunter almost yelled around his thumb. Rick put the bowl back on the coffee table and tried again, this time with both hands. 

"Come on, take that out of your mouth, okay? You have to eat something" Said Rick, to what Daryl replied with a whine.

"Let gooo", Daryl said, annoyed and moody.

Rick shook his head and tugged on the blonde's arm again, this time with more strength, and was able to do as he had wanted. Daryl froze and stared at nothing, surprised to see that he didn't feel the comfort the thumb in his mouth brought him anymore, and his eyes filled with tears. All the soreness and the tiredness he was feeling struck him harshly, making him angry. 

"Come on, eat your soup so we can go to the hospital" Said Rick, causing Daryl to look at him with confusion. "Eat the soup, Daryl" 

Daryl didn't know how to tell the other man that he simply didn't know how to do as Rick had said. Did he have to stretch towards the coffee table, grab the bowl and eat the soup? Or did he have to do it by using that silver thing that was in the yellowish liquid? 

Rick didn't know why, but he had the feeling that all the confusion didn't do anything but get bigger and bigger. What was wrong with his friend? Why was he acting like a child? Did it have something to do with the fever? What could he do to help?

Suddenly, Daryl decided that it would be best to tell Rick about the problem he was having. Rick was an adult, he was sure he would know what to do. 

"How do I do that?" He pointed to the bowl as his curious eyes focused on Rick.

"Are you really asking me how to eat soup?" Rick almost trembled. He stared at Daryl, watching him blush and nod. "You really don't know how to do it?" He insisted, and Daryl just stared down, not saying anything. Rick sighed deeply and sat beside his friend on the couch. He supposed it would be best to talk to Daryl while he helped him eat, so he grabbed the bowl and the spoon, and stared at Daryl for a moment. 

Daryl kept looking down as he played with his fingers, still staring down, debating whether he should pay attention to his need to suck his thumb or to stop himself from doing it because Rick had made him stop doing it.

Rick was moved by how still and quiet Daryl was, sitting on the couch with his back and arms covered by the heavy blanket. His fever was still high, that was pretty obvious, but he seemed to feel a bit better. 

"Okay, I'm going to help you eat, alright?" Rick told him, filling the spoon with the liquid and moved the spoon closer to the other man's mouth. Daryl looked up and opened his mouth without saying anything. "Is it good? Do you like it?" 

Daryl nodded, barely smiling. Rick nodded, satisfied, and continued doing his task. 

After a few minutes, Rick stood up and went to look for the keys of his car. Daryl looked at him, paying attention to his moves, without understanding what he was doing. 

"We should go" Said Rick, walking towards the couch and holding out a hand for Daryl to take. But the guy shook his head and pouted, making Rick look at him as if he had grown a second head. Puzzled, he asked: "Why don't you wanna go? Don't you wanna feel better?"

Daryl thought about it for a second before answering. "'S jus' that they're gonna poke me wif needles and I don' wan' that" He complained, looking at Rick like begging him to please let him stay. 

Rick didn't know what to say. Why was Daryl using that kind of "baby talk"? Daryl was a strong man who smoked many cigarettes per day and drank beer. Why was he suddenly speaking as if he was a two-year-old? 

Playing it down, Rick took the blonde's hand and made him stand up, causing his eyes to fill with tears. It surprised him to see that, even though he tugged on his hand, Daryl wouldn't move an inch towards the door. In fact, he was trying to sit back down on the couch, but Rick's strong arm didn't let him move that much. Annoyed, Daryl stomped and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to move. Rick turned to see him, not able to believe what was happening. 

"Said I don' wanna go" Daryl said, staring at Rick defiantly. 

Rick sighed and took a deep breath before trying to talk, but Daryl interrupted him before he could say a word. 

"An' I won't go" Daryl spoke, half angry and half scared. 

Rick had to concentrate very hard on not losing what was left of his patience, otherwise he would have already started swearing. But Daryl was staring at him with pure and innocent eyes, which made his mind empty and helped him to think about some way to help his friend. Then, he said with a smile: 

"I understand that you're upset, Daryl, but truth's that it's much better to go to the doctor and get cured than to still be sick" 

Daryl just stared at him blankly. Rick tried to walk forward, but the younger man wouldn't move. Rick turned around again and saw that his eyes were filled with tears again, and that his forehead and neck were sweaty. 

"B-but… It's gonna hurt" He said, so childishly that Rick shivered. 

"They won't harm you, I promise, alright? Now let's go, because it's getting late" Rick opened the door and gently tugged on Daryl's hand to take him out of the house, but Daryl was stubborn and rebellious and didn't follow him. 

"Pleaseee" The hunter cried, desperately tugging on the sheriff's arm to make him stop walking. Rick turned around to see him and found Daryl's miserable look moving. 

Rick sighed and grabbed his phone. "Would you feel more comfortable if a doctor came here to see you?" 

Daryl cocked his head and looked at him, thinking about it: if a doctor came to see him, then he would be safe because Rick would be there to protect him. Also, if the professional intended to harm him, he and Rick would be able to fight him, since he couldn't do it himself. Rick would also help if the doctor tried to use needles on him, wouldn't he? Because he was sure doctors only poked people with long, sharp needles and gave them gross medicine. And he didn't want to be given gross medicine and didn't want to have his body poked with tons of needles. 

Daryl nodded. "Y-yeah, but tell him to not bring needles, 'kay?" 

Rick couldn't help smiling when he saw those cute, bright eyed stare at him. He couldn't believe Daryl was actually behaving as if he was a baby, but he had to admit that he was starting to like it, not that he would admit it. He had always thought that Daryl was cute and pure on the inside, but had never been able to prove it until now. 

"Alright, I'll tell him that we don't want any needles here, okay?" Rick laughed, closing the door. Daryl nodded and unconsciously started sucking his thumb again. Rick smiled because he thought it was cute, but soon his smile faded. He wasn't allowed to enjoy that situation. 

While Rick talked on the phone, the now little hunter sat on the couch and stared at the TV. He couldn't remember the last time he watched something on TV, and for some reason now he felt desperate to turn it on and watch something. But he fell asleep before he could even think of asking Rick if he could use it. 

When Rick was done talking to the doctor, he went back to the living room to sit on the couch, but was surprised when he saw that Daryl was laying on it. He approached him slowly and silently and carded his fingers through his hair, moving it slightly to the left to see his face. Daryl looked so cute with his eyes closed, his thumb in his mouth and his cheeks red like an apple.

Rick knew he would have to wake him soon, because the doctor was on his way to the house, but decided to let him sleep until then. 

Daryl woke up when he heard the door open, and felt appalled by the tall, skinny, pale man that entered the house. His blue eyes filled with tears when he saw that the man was carrying a doctor's bag, where he was sure the man kept many, many needles. 

"Oh, you woke up on your own, great" Said Rick, smiling at him. The doctor smiled and shook his hand. "Daryl, this is Doctor Albert. Doctor Albert, this is my friend Daryl" 

"Pleased to meet you", Said the man, to what Daryl nodded. "Very well, what's wrong, Daryl?" The doctor sat down on the couch, right next to him. Daryl flinched. 

Daryl's eyes opened widely: he didn't know he would have to explain how he was feeling, as if he was a big boy. 

Watching Daryl involve in an inner fight with himself, Rick spoke: "He's got a pretty high fever, but I don't know anything else" He turned around to see the blonde boy. "Does anything hurt?" Daryl nodded silently, wishing he could continue sucking his thumb. "What hurts?"

Daryl thought about it for a moment. What would happen if he told them the truth and said that his throat was itchy and that his head hurt as if it was holding a pile of bricks? Would the doctor poke him with needles? Would that hurt a lot? He was sure it would, they were needles after all. 

"My head" He said, with his eyes crystalized. He was scared, so scared he was almost trembling. 

The doctor nodded. "Okay, let's take your temperature. You may have caught the virus that has been striking the town, so we have to make sure" He said as he opened his doctor bag and took out a small and thin thermometer. 

Daryl was frozen and so scared that he shrunk, trying to put some distance between the doctor and himself. Rick thought that was cute, so he hugged him, putting his arm on his shoulders. 

"Easy" He told him, squeezing him a little bit against his chest. Daryl whined and buried his face in the nape of the older man's neck. Rick smiled and gave Daryl's arms a pat. "Easy, it's okay" 

Soon, Daryl was sitting on the couch, with the thermometer in his mouth and his heart beating intensely and rapidly. Rick was slightly hugging him.  
The doctor took the object from Daryl's mouth, once he heard the 'beep' sound that it emitted after two or three minutes. 

"As I thought, it's this new illness. The fever is very high" He stated. "We're going to have to administer the medicine" He said, making Daryl's eyes open widely. 

"Wh-what?" He didn't know he would have to take some medicine, and now he regretted letting Rick call that man to come see him. 

The man smiled bitterly and nodded. "That's right, you're gonna have to take two shots: one to kill the virus and the other one to prevent you from catching something else now that your defenses are low" He explained. 

Not even after a single second, Daryl started panicking and burst into tears. He looked at Rick accusingly, calling him a traitor inside of his head, as tears rolled down his reddened cheeks and tiny sobs escaped his mouth. He told Rick: 

"Ya lied to me! Ya told me he wouldn' have no needles!" He cried harder and louder. 

Rick nodded. "I know, I did say that. But you truly need those injections, Daryl. I'm so sorry" 

The doctor soon started taking things out of his bag, but Daryl couldn't see what they were because he closed his eyes as he cried inconsolably. Rick held him to stop him from escaping, trying to calm him down by saying that everything would be fine. Of course, it didn't work. 

After ten minutes of fighting, yelling, screaming, crying, more crying and begging, the doctor sighed, satisfied with his job: he had been able to give Daryl the shots he needed. But the boy was still crying, each minute in a more heartbreaking way, as he rubbed his sore butt with one hand and his arm with the other hand. A moment later, Rick told the doctor to come along to the kitchen to ask him a question. Once there, he gave the man a glass of water and said: 

"Is the way he's acting related to his illness? He's been acting like a baby since he got here, with all those symptoms." The sheriff said, worried. 

The doctor nodded. "It's quite strange, Mr. Grimes. This illness makes patients (some, not all of them) act the way they would like to act every day. They express wishes that, without the high fever and the headache, wouldn't be able to even think about as a possibility" 

"So you're technically telling me that Daryl wants to be a baby, right?" Rick asked, puzzled. The doctor nodded again. "B-but that's not possible…"

"It may look impossible to you, but it's what's actually happening. Maybe Daryl needs someone to take care of him"


	2. A little boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl's first night at Rick's as a little boy!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for taking so long to update, I've been really busy with school and other stuff. Now I'm on vacation, so... More updates are yet to come, yaaay!

Once Rick paid the doctor for his services and walked him to the door, Rick walked towards the couch, where Daryl laid, knelt down next to him and ran his hand up and down his back. The young hunter shrugged Rick off with annoyance and grunted. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" The older man asked, this time not wanting to approach Daryl and be shrugged off again. 

"Leave" Daryl cried, his head hidden in between his arms, which were on the seat of the couch. 

Rick shook his head. "No, not until you tell me why you're so upset" He insisted, making Daryl grunt again, annoyed. 

"I-I told y-you that I didn't wan' any needles" He spoke as he trembled, still sobbing. Rick nodded, understanding. 

"I know, but no one can choose what doctors should do to cure them" Rick explained, wanting to hug the blonde man but stopping himself because he knew how that would end. Daryl rolled his eyes furiously and hid his head further into his arms. 

Rick didn't know what to do to approach Daryl in order to help him, but seeing him cry so inconsolably broke his heart each time he sobbed. Also, he felt more and more willing to help and protect the guy, and that feeling was something he couldn't stop thinking about. 

"I'm really sorry" The sheriff sighed deeply, biting his bottom lip. "Can you forgive me?" 

"I-I don't know", Answered Daryl, shrugging and looking as innocent as an actual child. Rick smiled slightly and decided to leave him be. 

"Does sleeping sound good to you?" Asked Rick, glancing at his watch and deciding that it was definitely late and that they both had to go to sleep. Daryl nodded, lifting his head off his tired arms and looking up to the older man. When Rick saw how red and teary Daryl's face was, and also how irritated and blood-shot his eyes were, he immediately felt the need to wrap him into a hug. But he didn't, even though he didn't know why. He quickly thought about what he should say to stop staring at Daryl. "Alright, I'll bring some blankets and a pillow. Wait here, please"

Daryl nodded. The fact that Rick hadn't offered him to sleep in his big bed didn't surprise him, but if he had to be honest, it had hurt him a bit. After all, he was still a little boy what needed company and love, right? He shouldn't be as lonely as he actually was. 

When Rick came back, with an armful of rolled up, colorful blankets, and a pillow, Daryl stood up and looked at him curiously as he watched him make the bed using all those things he had brought from who knows where. 

"It's done, you can already sleep in here" Rick patted the soft surface in order to make Daryl want to lay down on it. But Daryl was reluctant, since sleeping on the couch meant that he would be alone in the living room and that Rick would be sleeping upstairs, far away from him. "Come on, you have to sleep" He told him and waited for him to tuck himself in. 

Through clenched teeth, Daryl laid down and covered himself with all those blankets. 

Rick smiled. "Goodnight" He told Daryl, and then went upstairs without any more words. 

Daryl found it really hard to fall asleep, since he was alone and scared in the living room, but he ended up closing his eyes and rest for a bit. Despite getting almost two hours of sleep, he woke up to the end of a nightmare, in which his father and brother hit him as they laughed and drank booze. When he opened his eyes, struggling to breathe normally and covered in sweat, he had this feeling of unease and worry that wouldn't disappear even though he had stop dreaming. That's when he realized how cold and wet his pants were on his crotch, which startled him and made him get up and go upstairs towards Rick's bedroom.   
Once he got there, he knocked the door as lightly as he could, timidly, and waited until he got an answer. After a few seconds, when he didn't hear any sounds, he reached for the doorknob and and turned it, opening the door and seeing how dark the room was. 

"Rick?" Daryl spoke in a soft whisper, entering the room. From where he stood, he could distinguish Rick's relaxed and sleeping form on the bed, under the sheets. "Rick" 

The sheriff turned his head on the pillow and opened his eyes slightly, not understanding what was going on. 

"Daryl?"

The young man smiled, nodding, relieved, and walking quickly towards the other man, who still laid on his bed. 

"What happened? Why did you wake me up?" He asked, afraid that something bad had happened or was still happening. "Are you feeling poorly?" 

Daryl shook his head, looked down to the ground and stuck hi thumb into his mouth, not dating to say what had happened. He knew, though, that making Rick wait for an answer wasn't convenient since the only thing he had to do as a kid was to respect adults, so he answered. 

"Had a bad dream" He almost whispered, afraid that that wasn't a valid reason to wake the older man up. 

After a few minutes, when he finished waking up, Rick signaled for Daryl to approach him, which the young man did. Rick put a hand on his forehead to see if he had a fever, and when he noticed that his temperature was normal he covered himself with the sheets and got comfortable again. 

"It was just a dream, okay? Go back to sleep" Rick said, not wanting to think about it too much. But Daryl didn't move an inch from where he stood, which annoyed Rick. "Daryl, go back to bed and get some sleep" He closed his eyes as he was done speaking, trying to ignore the other man, who looked at him both curiously and nervously. 

Daryl didn't know how to explain to the sheriff that he had wet his pants and needed help to know what to do with that. He didn't know how to say it, afraid that the other man would get mad and beat him up, just like his father used to do. 

Rick sighed, even more annoyed, and sat up on the mattress, making a huge effort to keep his eyes open. He turned on the lamp he had on the bedside table. "What's wrong?" He asked him, in a half-assed attempt to help, trying to be understanding in spite of his bad mood. "Why don't you wanna sleep?" 

Daryl bit his bottom lip and lowered his head, ashamed, and that was when Rick lowered his gaze as well and took notice of how wet his friend's pants were. He soon looked up and looked at Daryl's face, surprised, making him shrink as small as he could, afraid of getting punched. 

"'M sorry" Said Daryl, almost begging for mercy, as tears slipped down his cheeks. "Don' hit me" He trembled, letting his lips tremble as well as he tried to hold his sobs back. 

Rick couldn't help feeling bad for Daryl, he knew the young man had to be feeling terribly embarrassed and upset, and that it had actually been an accident. 

"I'm not gonna hit you, don't you worry", Rick reached out to card his fingers through the man's hair for a few seconds. "Now let's go change you" Rick got up and took Daryl's hand in order to guide him towards the bathroom. Once there, he said: "Okay, I'll wait outside while you take off your wet pants and clean yourself up, alright?"

Daryl stood there, quiet, and looked at Rick, completely confused. How was he going to take off his clothes and clean up by himself? He was still too little to know how to do all those things, didn't Rick understand that? 

"I-I don' know how" Said Daryl, almost whispering, as he lowered his head. 

"You don't know how to what?" Rick hoped he wouldn't be told that Daryl didn't know how to clean himself up. 

"Change clothes alone" He answered, his cheeks reddening until the blush got to his ears. 

Rick sighed deeply and, without thinking about it longer than needed, took Daryl's pants and underwear off. He would've never imagined that he would ever have to get a guy out of his clothes, that for sure. 

"Please tell me you can clean yourself up" Rick was begging for Daryl to say proudly that he could clean his own parts. Being honest, Rick didn't feel ready to clean Daryl up. 

Daryl shook his head, causing Rick to close his eyes and curse internally. 

Rick grabbed a piece of toilet paper and dampened it, and then used it on the other man's skin, carefully. Then, he went to his bedroom to fetch him some clothes do he could wear them as his own washed and dried. 

"Okay, I'll put this on you and we're going back to sleep" Rick put Daryl on his underwear, doing it quickly so he could forget about the bizarre scene sooner, and then guided him downstairs. "Alright, now lay down" 

Daryl looked at Rick for a second and didn't move, not wanting to walk into the dark living room and be there all alone. 

"Daryl, I have to sleep because tomorrow I gotta work, so go and lay down" He hadn't meant to lose his patience and, even though he didn't snap, he could see, in the darkest darkness, Daryl's attempt to shield his head from a possible punch. Rick but his bottom lip, disappointed in himself. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have talked to you like that"

Daryl shrugged. "'M used to it" He said, biting the edge of the sleeve of his pajamas. 

Rick felt his heart break as he heard Daryl's words, but he still couldn't say anything to express his sadness. 

"Aren't you tired?" Asked Rick, intrigued. Maybe Daryl wasn't sleepy and that's why he refused to go back to bed. 

"Yeah" Said Daryl, still almost whispering. "'M sleepy" He rubbed his eye with his fist, making Rick smile. 

"Why don't you wanna sleep, then?" 

"Don' wanna be alone" The younger man answered, feeling a bit embarrassed and looking down. Rick nodded, not knowing why he hadn't thought about it before. 

"You can come sleep with me, then" Said Rick, taking Daryl's hand and guiding him upstairs, towards his bedroom. "You damn manipulative boy" He said in a half-assed joke.


	3. The Police Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick takes Daryl to his workplace. Daryl gets bored, scared, yelled at... It's a mess.

When Rick woke up, the first thing he saw were Daryl's eyes, that stared at him intensely, creeping him out a little bit. He put some physical distance between him and the other man, who approached him without even thinking about it, making him move a few inches further from Daryl. Since Daryl wouldn't stop approaching him, Rick used his arm as a barrier between them. 

"No, that's enough. You're lucky you got to sleep here, in my bed" He told him, showing that he was upset, and Daryl responded to that making a noise that qualified as a whine as he flinched. Rick felt guilty about his outburst, but he didn't know what to say to apologize so he just didn't. 

"Sorry" Daryl bit his bottom lip and looked down in silence, not knowing what else to say. He just hoped Rick wouldn't punch him to punish him for being overly confident. 

Rick let out a sigh, feeling exhausted. "It's okay" He said, already winded, before he got up and went to the bathroom, leaving Daryl alone on the bed. 

Rick used some water from the faucet to freshen up, thinking about a plan to manage to do all the mundane things he was supposed to do, this time accompanied by that little monster that was still laying on his bed, under his blankets. If there was something that Rick didn't need in that moment was the presence of a codependent, manipulative and overwhelming individual; and now he had to deal with someone that reunited all those damn characteristics and more.

Since it was still the middle of the week, Rick had to work, which represented a big problem since he had no way to look after his suck friend. He couldn't leave him alone, not now that he was in that "baby state", because he could get hurt or even die while Rick was somewhere else. Rick had to take him to his workplace, even though that would practically be suicide, since he would have to make sure Daryl didn't break any rules and also didn't get too bored to try and break those rules, things that every baby does. 

"Get up and go get dressed, we're going to work" Rick told him, knowing that the best way to keep an eye on Daryl would be to keep him close. 

Daryl looked at Rick without saying a word, with his eyes half-closed and with sweat on his forehead. 

Rick sighed heavily. "I know that you're not feeling well, that's why you're coming with me. The other option is to leave you here, alone, but so don't think you want that" He told him, making Daryl shake his head. "Alright, go get dressed" He said and then he added: "But first go to the bathroom, I don't want you to have any accidents, okay?" 

Daryl nodded and got up slowly, feeling that his head hurt as if it has a thousand bricks on top, pressing on his skull. His eyes felt a bit sunken and it upset him a bit.   
The young man tried to do everything as close to Rick's instructions as possible, going to the bathroom and taking his clothes off right there, but everything went wrong: as he tried to take his pants and underwear off, Daryl lost his balance and fell on his butt, hitting his head against the corner of the piece of furniture where Rick kept his towels. The man started crying immediately, getting Rick's attention. 

Rick entered the bathroom opening the door quickly and got surprised when he found Daryl sitting of the floor, with his pants and underwear down to his knees, his genitals showing and his back still pressed against the furniture. 

"Daryl, what happened?" Asked Rick, a bit winded, while he held his hands out for Daryl to take them and stand up. 

"I fell" Said the younger man, embarrassed, as tears slid down his cheeks and tiny sobs escaped his mouth. 

Rick pursed his lips together, concerned due to the other man's sudden clumsiness. Daryl was usually very agile, he didn't know what had gotten into him. 

"Are you hurt? I heard a noise" Rick asked, looking him over. 

Daryl nodded, still crying, as he rubbed his back. "M-my back" He cried. 

Rick nodded and took a look at the reddening part that was above Daryl's rib, where he had the bruise the hard wood of the piece of furniture had left on his soft skin. 

"It's okay, it's nothing" He said, and then he ended up helping the boy change into his other clothes. After that, he brushed his hair and helped him brush his teeth. 

"But-- where we goin'?" Asked Daryl, watching as Rick put on his beige sheriff shirt and then grabbed his brown hat. 

"We're going to the police station" Rick answered, and then they went downstairs and walked towards the garage, where Rick kept his car. They got in the vehicle and its owner put some music on the radio. 

"What 'm I supposed to do there?" Daryl was hoping that there would be something he could play with, otherwise he was certain he would get bored. He heard Rick sigh before he got an answer. 

"Behave properly" He told him, looking at him seriously for him to know that he wasn't kidding. "I need you to behave so I can work, understood?" 

Daryl nodded, blushing and feeling as his old tears dried with the wind that hit his face because of the open window. Rick smiled slightly. 

"You have to be careful not to have any accidents, so you need to pay attention" Rick said, but he already knew that Daryl would make a mess out of his neat office. 

"Ya take me to the bathroom if I gots to go?" Daryl hoped he would get some help from the older man, since he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from getting lost in that big building or from having accidents. 

Rick got a bit nervous when he heard the younger man's question. "I'll walk you to the bathroom the first time so you get to know the way there, but then you'll have to go on your own" 

Daryl lowered his gaze, aware of the fact that maybe Rick didn't want to take care of him. 

"'Kay" He said, still looking down. 

Rick continued driving, trying not to worry so much about that strange feeling that Daryl's actions produced in his chest. 

"If you feel unwell, you have to tell me. I don't want you to get any worse, understood?" He told Daryl, cheering him up unconsciously, since the fact that Rick worried about him and was constantly paying attention to him meant that he cared about him. 

"Yeah" Daryl nodded, smiling. Maybe he could pretend to feel unwell so he could have Rick's attention to himself for a while. 

When they got to the police station, Rick started looking for some things that Daryl could do to entertain himself, which ended up being a mission he couldn't accomplish. 

"Do you want to read a magazine?" He asked him, seeing that there were some magazines that contained pictures of plants and animals, which could be interesting for the younger man. But Daryl just shook his head, looking down to his feet. 

"Can't read" The boy said, embarrassed. Rick looked at him, not buying it. He remembered seeing Daryl read a book a few weeks earlier, he knew Daryl could read. 

Maybe the fact that he was sick and that he believed he was a little boy made him forget certain knowledge he used to have before getting sick. That could have been the reason why he had had an accident the night before, too. 

"Well, then watch some TV" Said Rick, pretty eager to start working as soon as possible so he could go home as soon as possible, too. "And stay here" He pointed to the chairs in the waiting room. "We're all working here, at the office, so we need to be in silence. It's better for us if you stay here. If you need anything, you can come and let me know" 

Daryl nodded, not fully convinced, and sat on a chair, feeling how uncomfortable it was as soon as his butt landed on its hard surface. Rick sighed out of relief and headed to the office he shared with several of his workmates. 

After a short amount of time, Daryl started getting bored of watching the news channel on the small TV that was hung up on the wall of the waiting room, so he headed to the tiny office that was next to said room and stood there, standing next to the window until the lady that was on the phone behind the glass looked at him. 

"Sorry, what do you need?" The gray-haired, sixty-year-old woman asked him, correcting her red lipstick on her thin lips. 

Daryl looked down and said: "I'm bored". 

The lady looked him up and down and smiled, seeing his eyes shimmer in a way she had never seen before. 

"Do you want to switch to another channel?" The woman exited her tiny office with a remote control in her hand and offered Daryl to take it, which he did, staring at the thing as if it had descended from a spaceship. All those small circles with numbers and letters were so confusing! 

"W-what is this?" He asked and Doris, who spent every Sunday watching every soap opera on TV, nearly fell flat on her ass. 

"You use it to switch channels" She answered, channel surfing until she found a sports channel. When she looked at Daryl and saw that he wasn't interested at all in that topic, she switched to another channel, where a show about yellow robots that were made of circles lived in a giant teapot. "Do you like that one?" 

Daryl smiled and nodded. "Yeaaah!" He went back to his uncomfortable chair and curled up on it. 

Daryl was about to fall asleep when a tall, big man with many tattoos entered the place and sat on one of the chairs. The blue-eyed, young man couldn't stop looking at him, feeling afraid of the grumpy look on his face, which reminded him of his own father. Immediately, Daryl stood up and started walking across the hallways and opening doors randomly until he got to Rick and Shane's office. 

Rick looked up as he stopped paying attention to the pile of papers in front of him, and saw Daryl standing next to the door. "What's wrong?" 

Daryl looked at his feet and started playing with his fingers. "Can I stay here?" 

Rick shook his head quickly. "No, you have to go back to the waiting room. We're working here" Rick tried to kick him out, but Daryl refused to leave. 

"There's a scary guy out there" Said Daryl, a little bit ashamed, which made Rick furrow his brow. He had never heard the real version of Daryl say that someone or something scared him, and he had never thought he ever would. 

"Daryl, do us a favor and go back there" Rick pointed to the hallway, trying to make the younger man leave at once, but Daryl shook his head and repeated: 

"There's a scary guy out there" He said, this time a bit angry. "I wanna stay here" He stomped on the floor, making Shane look at him as well. 

Rick sighed, not knowing how to respond to that without needing to yell, and looked at Shane, who was as surprised as he was. They had never had to deal with kids, either emotionally and physically or just emotionally little, before in their lives, and this experience felt like a nightmare to them. 

"If you stay, you need to be quiet. You make a tiny sound and you're out" Rick said, defeated. Daryl nodded and sat on the floor, since there weren't any more chairs in the room. 

Daryl looked around and, seeing as everything in that room was boring, rolled his eyes and laid down on the floor. Soon, the effects of the medicine seemed to wear off since his face started burning again and his head started feeling heavy again, too. 

Rick saw that Daryl was sprawled on the floor, and somehow something strange started working in his mind and made him say: 

"Daryl, don't lay on the floor. Get up"

Daryl turned his head to look at him and got up, sitting up on the floor and resting his back against the wall. His whole face was already sweaty and his hair has started to stick to his forehead, neck and ears. 

Rick looked at him and that strange feeling made him speak again: 

"Are you okay?" He asked Daryl, leaning a bit over his desk. When the younger man looked at him with his puffy eyes and his sweat-drenched face, Rick quickly stood up and looked for Daryl's medicine, which was in the backpack the other man had brought to the station. "Here" He gave him a glass of water to swallow the two pills he had to take. Daryl took them and drank the rest of the water. Rick went back to his chair. 

What Rick would have never imagined was that Daryl would follow him to his chair and curl up against his legs. Rick almost couldn't help kicking his leg to get Daryl off of him. 

"Daryl, what the hell are you doing?", Rick asked, grabbing Daryl by his shoulder and trying to shove him away from him. Daryl resisted and let out a whine/grunt out of annoyance. Shane looked at him curiously, not knowing what was going on. Rick felt Shane's stare burn on his face, so he turned to the boy and said: "Daryl, get out of there and go back to the waiting room right now" 

Daryl shook his head, feeling the sides of his chest hurt a bit. "No". 

Then Rick shook his legs, scaring Daryl and making him stand up as soon as he could. "Get out, right now" He said angrily, pointing at the door. 

Daryl's eyes filled with tears and his cheeks turned red due to all the sadness and embarrassment the scene caused in him. He left the room without saying anything, with his head down and a huge knot around his throat. 

Shane looked at Rick again and smiled slightly. "I still don't get what the hell is wrong with him". 

Rick sighed and went back to writing on the papers. "He's sick, he's got the damn fever. He thinks he's a baby, or something like that". 

Shane laughed. "Dude, that's pretty sick". 

Rick rolled his eyes. "I hope he's back on his feet soon, can't stand him anymore". 

Daryl got to the waiting room and, as soon as he saw that the scary man wasn't anywhere to be seen in the place, he sat back on his chair and watched TV. Soon enough, Doris, the secretary, looked at him from behind the window of her cubicle and smiled at him. 

"I didn't let anyone change the channel" She said, winking at him. Daryl blushed and hugged his knees.

He didn't want to cry because he knew it would be embarrassing for him to express his feelings in front of the few officers there were, but his tears and the sinking feeling in his chest won the battle and he soon started to sob, almost inaudibly, in the silent room. Why didn't Rick want him anymore, did he stop being his friend? It seemed like the other man suddenly started hating him or something, since he got sick. 

After a while, his belly started hurting and he realized he needed to go to the bathroom. But then he remembered that Rick was really mad at him and that maybe he would kick him again if he tried to approach him, which is why he didn't have any other choice but to stay on the chair, not knowing what to do.   
About ten minutes later, his need to empty his bladder got harder and harder to ignore so he had to stand up and start walking towards Rick's office. He was a few steps away from getting there when he felt the front of his pants get wet, and fear and frustration made him grunt. Of course, Rick heard him and got out of the office to see what had happened, seeing the lovely surprise that awaited him. 

"Goddamnit, Daryl!" Rick gritted his teeth. "I literally told you not to let this happen!" He started walking towards him but Daryl was faster and started running towards the door that led to the sidewalk. Rick started running after Daryl, yelling for him to stop. "Daryl, stop running!" 

But Daryl was too scared to stop, since seeing an angry man run after him brought back terrible memories of his father beating him up when he was just a child or even when he was an adult. For that reason, the young man tried to cross the street, not paying attention to the couple of cars that were about to pass by him. He was about to set a foot on the asphalt when a hand closed around the fabric of the neck of his T-shirt and stopped him from moving any further. 

"Are you out of your mind?!" Rick yelled at him, still grabbing him by his T-shirt, and Daryl flinched and tried to move away from him, waiting for a punch that never hit him. Rick rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to punch you, stop flinching away from me" He said, letting go of the other man to grab his hand and start walking back towards the police station. "Daryl, why didn't you tell me that you needed to go to the bathroom? We had agreed that you would let me know" 

Daryl lowered his gaze. "You were mad at me". 

Rick bit his bottom lip and nodded, feeling bad for his behavior. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that" 

Daryl looked at him from the corner of his eyes for a second. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you" He said, and then added: "And that I bugged ya". 

Rick nodded, opened the glass door of his workplace and let Daryl walk in first. "It's alright. I haven't brought a spare set of clothes, so you'll have to wait until we get home--" Rick stopped talking and walking at the same time. Home? When did his house become Daryl's house, too? He was starting to act the way he had promised himself he wouldn't, as if Daryl was an actual child, his child. He knew damn well that he couldn't afford to let that impulse to protect Daryl lead him. After all, if he let himself do that he would end up getting hurt again, just like he had a few years before.   
Rick shook his head and headed to his office without saying anything else to Daryl, who just stared at him as he stood in the waiting room, not knowing what was happening. 

\---

When they got back to his house, Rick told Daryl to go the the bathroom, take off his clothes and wait for him in there. As soon as he opened the door, his eyes met a naked Daryl that covered himself and that looked really cute with his hair all messy and his cheeks red. Rick smiled at him, making him blush even more. 

"Alright, I'll fill the tub and you'll take a nice bath, okay?" Said Rick, letting the warm water fill the tub. 

Daryl furrowed his brow. "No, you" He said, crossing his arms. 

Rick shook his head. "No, you know how to do it. From now on, you're gonna have to do it yourself" 

Daryl shook his head as well. "No, 'm not gonna do it", He said, his voice shaky and his eyes filled with tears. 

"If you don't do it your skin is going to get all irritated" Rick shrugged. "It will hurt you, not me" 

Daryl stomped on the floor and yelled: "Ya do it!" 

Rick stepped close enough to him to reach out and give him a smack on his bare bottom. Daryl looked at him, both surprised and angry, and moved further away from him not to get any more smacks. 

"Mm!" Grunted Daryl, looking at Rick with his brow furrowed, and discreetly rubbed the red mark that the other man had left on his skin. 

Rick pointed to the tub. "Get in and sit down" He told him, and Daryl complied, still looking at him with anger. "Give me the sponge and the soap" Daryl did as he was told, still glaring at him. "Keep looking at me like that and you'll get more smacks, is that what you want?" Rick couldn't let Daryl think he had the control of the situation, so he decided he would start being more strict. 

Daryl looked at him in awe, and then lowered his gaze to the water that filled the tub. He felt relieved that Rick acceded to help him take a bath, but he didn't let his face or his behavior show it because he wanted Rick the think he was mad at him. 

Rick sighed, thinking that maybe it was time for him to say out loud what had crossed his mind as he drove towards his house a while earlier. "Daryl, uh… I've been thinking and I believe that we should use another method to help you with your accidents, you know, until the virus is gone" He said, finally daring to bring up that subject. Daryl looked at him and cocked his head, not understanding. 

"Huh?"

Rick scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to say it without making it sound weird. "I think we should try and get… some help".


	4. This problem has a name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick is starting to feel he can't help liking Daryl's presence. Also, Daryl experiences having to wear diapers again.

Daryl looked at Rick, not knowing what to say about what the other man had just suggested. 

"Wh-what---?" Daryl started speaking, but Rick cut him off before he could finish the idea. 

"You know what I'm talking about" Rick spoke rapidly, a bit embarrassed and not in the mood for a discussion about that topic. He definitely hadn't ever thought about telling another grown man that he would make him wear diapers, but there he was, talking to Daryl about him having to wear the damn diapers. 

Daryl blushed and covered his face with his hands, still not knowing what to say. Soon enough, it occurred to him that maybe Rick was right, and he realized that a part of him was actually glad of having moved forward so quickly. 

"I know it's gonna be hard because I have zero experience in this, uh, area, and also because you're a man, but I think I can help you" Rick cursed himself for even considering talking about that, but his heart told him that he couldn't stop insisting nor take his words back because that's what they both needed. 

Daryl removed his hands from on top of his face and looked at Rick with his stare full of indignation. "Not a man, little" He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Rick defiantly. Rick took a deep breath and got ready to say something, but Daryl didn't let him even start speaking. "'M little" He said, still defiantly but with a shaky voice. He nodded to himself. "'M little" He spoke, almost whispering, as if he begged Rick to believe it as well. 

Rick felt his heart break as he watched that scene, knowing that his friend was way more broken than he was. For that reason, he wrapped his left arm around Daryl's shoulders and held him, gently squeezing him against his chest for a couple of seconds. The hunter tensed completely, not knowing what to do in that situation, and stayed staring at nowhere in particular. 

"I thought that was what you wanted" Said Rick, not understanding why he had let himself lose the tiny bit of dignity and pride he had left in him, all to give some love to a man that hadn't even replied the same way. 

Daryl looked at Rick and stuttered, taking a deep breath that he didn't even use on words. He lowered his gaze and hugged his knees against his chest. Rick shook his head and focused on finishing rinsing the shampoo off of Daryl's hair to get that stupid bath over with as soon as possible. 

Meanwhile the lukewarm water ran down his hair as it poured out of a jar, Daryl shrunk deeper into himself and mumbled. "Dunno what to do" 

Rick looked at him surprised. "Daryl, it's just a hug" He told him, and Daryl just shrugged. "You've never been hugged before?" 

Daryl looked to one side. "Can't remember" Actually, he did remember but the memories were not something nice he liked recalling. For example, he remembered one day when his brother had approached him to give him a hug and ended up punching him in the stomach. 

Rick looked at Daryl and felt bad for being so mean towards him, but then he shook that feeling off his head when he remembered that he couldn't get emotionally attached to the other man, otherwise he would end up getting hurt again. Then, Rick simply focused on washing Daryl's shoulders and back with soap. He then let Daryl continue with the rest, which took a long time because the man was pretty slow until Rick got too annoyed to keep himself from snatching the bar of soap out of Daryl's hands anymore. Daryl looked at Rick, frozen due to the fear of getting yelled at or punched. 

"Sorry!" Said the younger man, shielding his face with his hands and leaning the opposite way to Rick's. When he saw that the older man didn't say or do anything, nor did he punish him as he had feared, Daryl's eyes filled with tears and a knot in his throat made him struggle to breathe. 

Rick bit his bottom lip and placed a hand on Daryl's shoulder, making him tremble as he made contact with him. The older of the two reached out and moved Daryl closer to himself, carefully not to scare him again. When the other man was close enough, he petted his damp hair and then lowered his hand to the upper part of his back, in between his shoulder blades. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" He told him sincerely, watching as a couple of tears rolled down his pink cheeks. 

"'S jus' that---" 

Rick interrupted him before he could continue stuttering. "Shh, I know. But you don't have to be afraid of me, I'm not gonna hit you" 

Daryl doubted that was entirely true. "B-but a while ago---" 

Rick remembered what he had done earlier that night and felt really ashamed. "Daryl, I just gave you a swat on your bottom, it's nothing like punching" He explained, and then he added: "And it wouldn't lead to punching"

Daryl furrowed his brow. "B-but it hurt!" 

Rick nodded. "That was the point, actually; I used it to correct your behavior" He told him, and then he figured out a way to make things simpler and end that conversation. "Look, I'm never gonna hit you; I am going to spank you if you misbehave, though, okay?" 

Daryl thought about it for a couple of seconds and then he nodded. "'S okay" 

Rick finished soaping Daryl up, being careful when the embarrassing and difficult task of lathering Daryl's private parts became inevitable. After he was done with the soaping up part, he put some conditioner on the man's hair, brushed his hair and helped him out of the bathtub. He dried him off carefully with a fluffy towel and helped him put on some clothes. 

After letting it dry, Rick brushed Daryl's hair as he thought that maybe that part of the situation wasn't that bad and that he even got to enjoy it. He felt at ease when he watched his close friend let his guard down and enjoy, and he was also surprised to see the guy so relaxed when he took a bath. He knew, though that that wouldn't last very long, since Daryl would be the same badass, skittish hunter he had been his whole life once the virus and its effects were gone. Rick knew he would be crushed when that happened, so he wouldn't get his hopes up, he wouldn't be the fool he once was and wouldn't think he had any chances to have a child. 

Rick stopped thinking about his haunting memories when he heard Daryl sigh out of calmness as he relaxed his whole body. The older man smiled. 

"You really like having your hair brushed, huh?" Rick smiled again when he heard Daryl let out a low "mhm", responding to the enjoyable feeling Rick's fingers carding through his hair provoked in him. The poor guy almost fell asleep to the delicate touch. 

"'M sleepy" Said the younger man, feeling his body get heavier and heavier each time. His head also started hurting a little bit. 

Rick nodded and took his hand to walk him to the couch, where he laid him down, tucked him in and sat beside him. The sheriff couldn't help smiling as he watched Daryl fall asleep, he thought it was Daryl's fault for being so cute and having an angelic face. 

Once he heard Daryl's tiny snores, Rick started making dinner and, as soon as it was ready, he went to the store nearby to buy that thing that had him incredibly worried: the diapers. 

Of course, Rick didn't want Daryl to have to wear diapers because he would have to change him, but he knew that it was totally necessary. He also didn't want to have to take care of him, but he couldn't just abandon him since he couldn't take care of himself on his own. For that reason, Rick gathered some courage and went to the store, leaving Daryl alone in the house. He knew that this new project would be troublesome, but what other choice did he have? He couldn't let Daryl wet his pants, and he sure as hell wouldn't be able to teach him not to, so he had to find a suitable solution.  
_________________________

When Daryl woke up, confused about his whereabouts and what time of the day it was, he got up from the couch and went to the kitchen. 

"Rick?" He called the other man, trying to listen to any footsteps that could lead him to his host. But he didn't hear anything, which is why he went to the man's bedroom. Maybe he's just sleeping, he thought. "Rick…?" 

After not being able to find him, Daryl went out to the backyard and looked for Rick there, getting the same results and getting more and more desperate. He couldn't breathe, he felt his world crumble with each step he took. Had Rick abandoned him? 

Daryl went back into the house and checked every room once more. "Rick…?" He spoke, his voice shaky and his eyes watery. When he heard nothing but deafening silence, he plopped down on the couch and burst into tears. He couldn't believe it, he was all alone, without anyone to take care of him, without his only friend. 

Daryl continued crying until he heard the front door open, letting Rick into the house. Daryl looked up to look at him, making Rick look at him, not understanding what was going on. 

Scared, he knelt down in front of him. "Daryl, why are you crying?" He asked him, using all his strength not to hug him until his tears dried. 

The young man wasn't able to make any sounds that weren't sobs or hiccups, which made the sheriff even sadder and worried. 

Rick looked at him sadly and brushed his hair out of his tear-stained face. "What happened?" 

Rick waited a couple of minutes until Daryl could speak well enough to explain why he was so upset. "Y-you we-went away" 

Rick nodded. "I did, but only to get your diapers from the store" He said, causing the hunter to blush from his chest to the tip of his ears. "It's alright" Rick gave him a pat on the back. "You got scared because I left?" 

Daryl nodded, a bit ashamed. "Thought ya had 'bandoned me" 

Rick couldn't help laughing a bit, which causes Daryl to glare at him. "I'm sorry, the fact that you thought I would abandon you in my own house was kinda funny" He said, making Daryl Huff and look to the side, embarrassed. 

"'M sorry" Daryl murmured with his stare glued to the floor. Rick clicked his tongue and gave him another pat on the back, standing up. 

"Come on, let's…" He pointed to the package.of diapers with his head, unable to say what he was about to do with any words. Daryl nodded and stood up, but a throbbing headache almost made him lose his balance, which alerted Rick to quickly grab him by the arm and help him not to fall. "Are you alright?" 

Daryl could barely keep his eyes open, which was why he didn't reply, so Rick rolled his eyes and picked him up, carrying him until they got to his bedroom, where he laid him down on the bed.  
Ready to get it over with, Rick tentatively took Daryl's pants and underwear off, trying to not look at him. Once the guy was completely naked from his hips to his toes, Rick opened the package of diapers, lifted Daryl's legs and put a diaper under his butt. He couldn't help thinking that things would've been like that if that baby had been his, which is why he subconsciously treated Daryl as carefully as I'd he had been an actual child. 

Rick had already finished putting him in a diaper when Daryl stopped feeling dizzy, and even though he wasn't naked anymore he still blushed. Rick saw him and smiled, giving him a pat on his tummy. 

"Are you feeling better?" Rick asked and Daryl nodded. "Do you want me to cook dinner, then?" 

Rick took Daryl's hand and helped him down the bed, then took him downstairs to the kitchen, where he would wait as Rick got everything ready. 

"Alright, sit on a chair and wait here" He told him, and then he started taking out those items he would used to cook. Daryl watched him from his spot on the chair, waiting patiently, supporting the weight of his own head with his hands and elbows. Soon he started feeling sleepy and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of Rick chopping some vegetables on a plastic cutting board. Daryl was about to fall asleep when Rick turned around and saw he had his eyes closed. "Daryl, are you alright?" He put one hand on Daryl's forehead and felt the heat that radiated off his skin. 

Daryl opened his eyes a bit and looked at the other man. "Mm" He murmured, not really saying anything. Rick sighed and fetched the pills. Daryl got upset when he heard Rick sigh like that, as if he was annoyed, as if he wanted to get rid of him. Rick seemed eager to kick Daryl out of his house more often than not. For that reason, when Rick came back with the white pills in one hand and filled a glass of water using the other hand, Daryl waited for Rick to keep cooking to toss the pills into the water and let them dissolve in the liquid. Once Rick started setting the table, Daryl threw the liquid with the content of the pills into the drain of the sink. 

Rick helped Daryl sit up and, once everything was ready for them to eat, he filled his plate with vegetables. He wasn't surprised, though, when Daryl just stared at his empty plate and wouldn't even try to reach for the bowl. 

"What is it?" Rick asked, pretty worn out. Daryl looked at him with his saddest puppy eyes and shrugged, not wanting to tell the other man what he wanted to say. But Rick got it and patted his legs once, signaling for Daryl to sit on his lap. The young man complied, quickly feeling comfortable and at ease, and the older man started cutting up pieces of food from his plate to feed him some chicken and vegetables. 

Daryl couldn't believe it when Rick offered him a piece of chicken, holding the fork for Daryl to just put it into his mouth. The hunter opened his mouth slightly, not really knowing what to expect, and smiled when Rick fed him without saying a word. 

They spent a while eating like that, until Daryl's eyes started blinking heavily and eventually closed, making him fall asleep in a matter of seconds. Rick carded his fingers through his hair and carried him to his bedroom. Once he laid him down on the mattress and tucked him in, Rick sat next to him and watched him sleep for a couple of minutes, seeing as he started sucking his thumb while he snores. Rick thought that maybe he could get used to that, and that thought really scared him.


	5. Shame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor baby Daryl has a rash!! :'( Rick is still a bit mean :c

When Daryl woke up, at 5am in the morning, he smiled when he saw that Rick was still laying beside him on the bed, sleeping peacefully. It was still dark outside, which could be seen from the window on the other side of the room, and it was pretty cold, which is why Daryl sat up on the mattress to grab the blankets he had kicked in his sleep and pull them up to cover himself with them. He felt very comfortable until the moment when he sat up, since he noticed that his diaper had been wet for a while. He didn't want to wake Rick to tell him, mostly because he knew the man would probably get mad at him, so he just laid back down, squirming because of how uncomfortable he felt. He tried to sleep, doing his best to ignore how cold and wet his diaper was. 

It didn't take long before the boy fell back asleep, with his thumb in his mouth, and it also didn't take long for him to have another accident as he slept. When Rick woke him up two hours later, though, he realized how much he had messed up. As soon as he moved his legs to stretch his muscles, he felt pain shoot from his crotch to his brain. His eyes filled with tears and a yelp escaped his lips, startling Rick. 

"Daryl, what's wrong?"The older man asked, worried, as he stopped buttoning his beige shirt and approaching the bed. 

The young man wanted to tell the sheriff why he had yelped, since he was suffering so much, but he couldn't find the words to tell him nor could he make it less embarrassing. That's why he stayed quiet until the man sat beside him, on the edge of the bed, and pulled the covers off of him. 

"What's wrong, why did you yelp like that?" Rick asked him, and then he thought that maybe his friend had a fever or felt sick because of the virus, which is why he put one hand on his forehead. He sighed out of relief when he didn't feel any heat radiating off Daryl's skin, so he waited until the boy could tell him what was wrong. 

Not knowing how to express what he was feeling, Daryl burst into tears, frustrated and sore. Rick sighed and lowered his hand from Daryl's forehead to his back, which he rubbed to try and comfort him. But Daryl continued crying, clinging to the sheets with one hand and trying to separate, without Rick noticing, the diaper from his sensitive skin so that the plastic didn't stick to the zone. He got even more frustrated when he noticed that the burning didn't feel less intense and grunted out of annoyance, making Rick look down and see what he was doing. 

"Did you wet your diaper? Is that why you're crying?" He asked him, not getting an answer, so he just approached the boy and checked his diaper. When he squeezed, slightly, the material to see if it was wet, the burn felt even stronger for Daryl, who let out a sharp cry. Then, Rick decided to take his diaper off immediately, so he proceeded to undo the tapes. Once he saw that not only did he have a wet diaper but also had a rash and a very irritated crotch. Rick felt terrible when he realized that Daryl's suffering was his fault for not paying enough attention to him, but he wasn't willing to let guilt make him look weak. For that reason, he let anger take over not to show that he was upset. "You should've told me that you'd wet your diaper" He lectured, making Daryl look at him with surprise and regret in his eyes. 

"I-I-I just--- y-you were sleepin'" The younger man said, almost whispering, and his innocence made Rick feel worse, which he hid by looking even angrier. 

"You should've woken me up" He told him through gritted teeth while he wiped the boy's parts carefully.

Daryl but his bottom lip, not knowing what to say. "S-sorry" He looked away. 

Rick huffed. "Don't apologize now, it's useless. Now you're gonna be crying over this all the damn day" He couldn't contain his anger and he pressed the cotton ball he'd been using on Daryl's skin against the irritated zone, making the boy tear up as he yelped. 

Daryl felt hurt and could even feel a weird kind of pain settle in his chest and rise up to his throat. Rick had done something to hurt him on purpose, he had seen and felt it! 

Watching the younger man close his eyes as he sobbed and tears rolled down his cheeks, Rick felt his throat and chest hurt in a terrible way, which he had never felt before. He knew that being cruel to his best friend was what had made him feel such an intense burn, but he knew he couldn't let him see how weak he felt nor could he show his growing affection towards him, because that would make Daryl turn his back on him. That's why he treated him like this, that's why he had just hurt him on purpose, so that he left as soon as possible. But there was something that Rick couldn't stand anymore, which was the pain that hearing Daryl cry produced in him. Daryl was so innocent and pure now that he was sick, and that made Rick feel even worse for hurting him. For that reason, Rick changed him quickly, put him in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, sat him down on his lap and hugged him. Great, he ended up doing what he had been trying to avoid: he was making Daryl feel better while getting emotionally attached to him. 

"Shh, shh… It's okay, you're gonna be fine" He whispered in his ear, ashamed of having hurt him, as he hugged him against his chest and held him firmly. "Now we're gonna go buy a cream for that rash, okay? It's gonna make you feel better, you'll see" 

"Huwts" Cried Daryl, clinging to Rick's shirt with both hands. Even though he wasn't sitting on a cold, wet diaper didn't mean his skin had stopped hurting at all. 

Rick nodded, mad at himself but controlling himself not to take it out on the poor boy this time. 

"From now on you have to tell me if you use your diaper at night, okay? I can check during the day, but I can't do it when I'm asleep" Rick explained, making Daryl blush up to the tip of his ears. Had Rick just said that he was going to check his diaper? That sounded so embarrassing! Thinking about it, though, he knew that having to tell him that he had wet his diaper and needed a change was way more embarrassing. Or what would be more embarrassing would be to say that he had… No, he didn't even want to think about it. 

Rick smiled when he saw the blush spread on his friend's face, remembering how easy to embarrass the other man could be, mostly when he was in his adult mindset. 

"You'll tell me if you need a change, even if it's late, right?" Rick asked him and Daryl nodded. "And you're gonna let me check your diaper during the day, too, right?" Daryl nodded again, looking away. 

Rick didn't even want to think about whether Daryl would ever soil his diaper or not. He knew it was a possibility, but he didn't know if he was prepared for such thing. That took a lot more trust and closeness than they had, it really was a challenge. 

Since he couldn't leave the younger man on his own while he went to the pharmacy to get the rash cream, Rick told Daryl to come along. At first Daryl's steps were pretty fast and matched Rick's quick steps, but as time passed and his legs and the diaper grazed the irritated zone Daryl had no other choice but to walk slower and slower until he stopped.   
Rick turned around to look at him, once he realized that the boy wasn't walking beside him, and grabbed his arm without a doubt, not wanting Daryl to get lost in the small crowd that walked across the centre of the town. Daryl whined with annoyance, trying to yank his arm out of Rick's quite gentle grasp and failing. He did succeed at having Rick stretch his arm enough to reach his ass and give him a warning pat over his pants and diaper. Daryl looked at Rick, surprised: he didn't think the man would dare to do that in public. For that reason, he tried to do everything as Rick said for as long as he could, but soon his rash started bothering him again, this time itching and burning even more, so Daryl had to stop walking to get the plastic off his skin. 

Rick turned his head to look at the boy, seeing that he wasn't moving, and stopped walking as well. "Are you okay?" 

Daryl looked at him in the eye and shook his head, still using his hand to tug the diaper off his ass and testicles, squirming uncomfortably and not paying attention to the people who passed by and stared curiously. Rick did pay attention to them, though, and a blush appeared on his face because he knew people were looking at them specifically, so he grabbed Daryl by the arm and tugged on him for him to keep walking and stop accommodating himself in public. 

"Daryl, leave that alone!" He ordered. Daryl glared at him and continued tugging, making Rick hollow his cheeks in response to the disobedient boy. "I told you to stop doing that" This time he could get Daryl to stop, so he just started walking again and had Daryl follow him. 

Once they got to the pharmacy, Rick stood behind the last person queuing in order to ask for the rash cream when it was his turn. Daryl, on the other hand, started wandering around until he found the baby section of the store, where he stood mesmerized. There were so many things he liked, such as pacifiers, bottles, diapers, toys, everything in different designs. He was about to reach out and grab a light blue pacifier when someone else's arm interrupted and startled him. When he looked to his left, where that person was, he saw a young girl, several centimeters shorter than him, who had blonde hair and a striped hoodie. 

"Pick whichever you like, you've earned it" The woman who was holding the girl's hand told her, smiling at her lovingly. 

Daryl was intrigued: was that girl a baby? She could be a baby, too? Just like him?! 

The younger of the two women turned to look at him and smiled, probably realizing that he wanted to grab a pacifier as well, and took a lilac one before walking away holding the lady's hand. 

After Rick got the cream and payed for it, he started looking for Daryl and wasn't able to find him. At first he thought that the boy had walked away, maybe influenced by a stranger, and that he would never see him again, but then he calmed down when he spotted him in the baby section. Of course, finding him made him happy, which also made him think that maybe he did like the other man and that he would never forgive himself if something bad ever happened to Daryl because of him. 

When he saw Rick staring at him as he stood by his side, Daryl smiled and showed him the pacifier he had chosen. The answer he got, though, wasn't the one he had expected, since Rick, instead of smiling and buying the item just like the lady had done with her baby girl, gave him a severe look and told him to put it back where he'd found it. 

Daryl shook his head. "No, I want this one" 

Rick huffed, already knowing what s long day it would be. "I'm not going to buy that for you, you're not a baby" 

Daryl's eyes filled with tears when he heard the other man's voice, and that damn pain in his chest appeared again. "I-I am a baby" He said in a shaky voice, anguish forming a lump in his throat. 

Rick shook his head. "No, you're not" He looked around, hoping that no one was listening to the conversation they were having, otherwise he would die out of embarrassment. 

The younger man was confused. "B-but you got me diapers…" 

Rick placed his fingers on his nose, trying to hold back his annoyance and nervousness. "I got you diapers so you can stop peeing yourself" He told him harshly, making him shrink a bit and having Daryl look at him with some kind of fear. "Now put that back and let's go" Rick ordered. Daryl complied and left the pacifier where he had found it, and then walked beside Rick in complete silence, staring at the ground while tears slid down his cheeks. 

Daryl couldn't understand why Rick was sending him so many mixed signals: sometimes it looked like the man liked taking care of him, but more often than not the man would tell him ugly stuff. That's when he thought that maybe that's what adult people were actually like; maybe all of them were cruel liars that sometimes liked you and sometimes hated you. 

That night Daryl didn't want to take his medicine either, which is why he flushed the pill in the toilet while Rick was distracted cooking dinner in the kitchen. He didn't care about healing, not if Rick was going to use his health improvement to kick him out of the house and get rid of him. Maybe the other man didn't even want him, but being with him was a thousand times better than staying with his father and brother. 

When it was time for him to sleep, Daryl didn't even bother going upstairs to Rick's bedroom. He just laid down on the couch and fell asleep in the living room. Rick didn't even think about telling him to sleep with him in the big bed either, but the fact that Daryl didn't ask did hurt him. Nonetheless, he knew it was better for both of them not to care for each other that much, otherwise it would hurt them when it was time to part ways.


	6. A tiny, little accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl has a bit of an accident and tries to hide away from Rick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update, quarantine is killing me 

Daryl woke up that morning when he heard Rick walk down the stairs as he headed towards the living room, already wearing his uniform and ready to work. The older man looked at Daryl, who was still laying down on the couch, awake and staring at him, so he looked away. He didn't want to look at him, not after what had happened the night before, which is why he quickly made his way to the kitchen to grab something for breakfast so he could go to work. He didn't even want Daryl to come along, even though that would be the right thing to do considering that the poor guy wasn't able to take care of himself, so he tried not to think about it going wrong and just focused on the routine he used to follow before Daryl knocked on his door that night. Well, he did miss those quiet, peaceful days. He missed being free to do whatever he wanted, being in silence and enjoying the loneliness that living on his own offered. 

Daryl didn't want to talk to Rick either, even though he was dying for a hug or a caress, but he was forced to do it when he sat down and noticed that he had wet his diaper and that his stomach was so empty it started aching. 

"Rick" He called him softly, not really knowing whether he actually wanted to talk to him or not. But Rick heard him and quickly walked towards him, nervous about whatever the younger man wanted to say. When he was close enough, he looked at him for a few seconds and then looked away. Daryl squirmed uncomfortably. He didn't dare to say that his diaper was wet, so he simply pointed at it and waited for the other man to get the message. 

Rick rolled his eyes and nodded. "Lay back" He told him and Daryl obeyed, laying back down. Rick untaped the sides of the diaper, making Daryl blush in a pretty pink color that covered him from his chest to the tip of his ears. The boy covered his face not to see the sheriff's expression. When Rick saw that Daryl's rash still looked quite red and that it probably still hurt, his chest ached a bit. It hurt to think that, on top of putting up with his attitude from the day before, the poor boy had to bear the pain the rash caused him. For that reason, he was very careful when wiping the zone as to avoid hurting him even more. Then, he spread some cream on the rash and sprinkled powder on him to make the graze of his skin and the plastic of the diaper smoother. 

"I'm hungry" Said Daryl, once Rick finished changing him and pulled his pajama pants back up. 

Rick grabbed his hand to help him stand up faster and took him to the kitchen. He felt bad for having ignored him before, so in spite of being in a hurry he made a decent breakfast for him and dressed him up. It was pretty obvious, he couldn't leave Daryl alone in the house, without any supervision. Rick had to grow up and realize that Daryl really needed him and couldn't do things on his own. 

They were on their way to the police station when Rick remembered that he hadn't given Daryl his medication. He bit his bottom lip, thinking that he had screwed up again and that Daryl would be feeling much worse because of him, but then he remembered that he hadn't put the other blister pack in the first-aid kit, so he waited until they got to the station to give him some water so he could swallow the pill. 

This time Daryl had to wait until Rick left to his office before tossing the pill in the trash can and drinking the water normally. Nobody had been watching, so his plan was still working. Not taking his pills, though, had started taking a toll on his body and the effects were starting to show. He could feel his mild headache turn into a persistent, throbbing pain, which made him dizzy and almost made him land on the floor. 

Hours passed by pretty quickly, with Doris' help, who again let Daryl watch cartoons while he waited for Rick to finish working. Time seemed to stop when he felt his stomach cramp. He still had to wait for longer than an hour before they could go home, and Daryl already had beads of sweat running down his face due to the ache in his lower belly. Rick had already changed him a few hours ago, scurrying into the bathroom so no one else knew what was going on, and now it seemed like he would have to change him again, though this time it would be a bit different. 

Daryl feared that using his diaper that way would make Rick angrily kick him out of his house, so he focused on not letting that happen and, after a few minutes, the ache in his belly ceased for a while. Once he felt better, he laid back down on the seats of the chairs and watched TV just like he had been doing the past few hours. Before this, he had never watched cartoons before in his life, and now that he could do it he found out that he loved them and wanted to watch them all the time. 

Soon, Rick called him to get his coat so they could leave, and Daryl felt relieved. The younger man didn't feel that awful pain until a few moments after getting to Rick's house, so he quickly started running for the bathroom. But his luck had run out and, after a few seconds, he lost control of his sphincter and started filling the seat of his diaper. Desperate, he tried to stop the process while tears ran down his reddened cheeks, but he didn't succeed. Once he was done, he started thinking of ways to keep Rick from finding out what had just happened, since the man was in the kitchen and the smell would make its way there pretty soon. For that reason, Daryl decided to go to the backyard, hoping that Rick wouldn't find him out there. Obviously, that wasn't a good way to solve the problem, but it was the best little Daryl could do in that moment.   
Even though he had managed to hide, he couldn't hide from how annoying it was for him to walk while being in a dirty diaper, not could he stop feeling the pain the heat of the zone caused on his rash. He wanted to cry and hold his arms out for Rick to hug and comfort him, but he couldn't do it because he knew that Rick would hate him when he saw what he had done. 

Rick was finishing preparing a snack for both of them when he noticed how silent the whole place was, but he didn't worry about it because he thought that maybe Daryl had fallen asleep. When he got to the living room, though, he realized that the boy wasn't there. He hadn't heard him walk upstairs, either. 

"Come here Daryl, let's eat something" He spoke loudly enough to be heard from every part of the house. And he was heard, but Daryl was too ashamed and afraid to go back inside, even though he really wanted to. 

After waiting for a couple minutes, Rick decided to look for him, so he went upstairs and checked the rooms and the bathroom. When he realized that Daryl wasn't there, he went to look for him outside, where he found him trying to sneak out to the front of the house. 

"Why are you trying to escape?" He asked, expression filled with worry, fearing what the answer would be but not knowing why. He couldn't allow himself to let Daryl go, he knew how that would end. 

Daryl lowered his gaze. "I-I…" He wanted to tell Rick the truth, but he didn't know how the man was going to react; he was afraid Rick would hate him. 

Rick approached Daryl until he was close enough to touch him, and in that moment his nose caught the awful smell that came from the poor boy's diaper, realizing what was going on. His first thought was to yell, disgusted, but then he thought that Daryl felt bad enough already and didn't need any more embarrassment. It could also be said that, only for that moment, Rick really thought that Daryl was a baby. 

"Oh, Daryl" He said sadly. "Did you have an accident?" The question sounded sweet in a sad way. Rick let his most comprehensive and loving side take care of the situation.

More tears slid down Daryl's reddened cheeks. "Y-yes…" He spoke softly, feeling humiliated, which made Rick instantly hold his arms out for Daryl to let himself be embraced. Daryl nodded and Rick wrapped his arms around him, making the boy feel safe, and then started petting his hair gently. 

"Shh, shh, easy" Rick held him until his sobbing subsided and turned into tiny hiccups. Then, he took Daryl's hand and walked with him into the house. Once they were in the living room, Rick laid a cloth on the couch for Daryl to lay down on. "Just relax. Close your eyes if you want" He told him while he undid the zip of his jeans and pulled them down to his knees. Then, he untaped the sides of the diaper to start getting rid of the mess. Daryl felt hot tears slide down his cheeks, but he didn't let himself sob, not even once. He could feel his tears run down his skin and disappear into the neck of his T-shirt until they dried against the fabric. He was so embarrassed and scared, and the silence was so awkward he couldn't help wishing he had taken the damn pills so he could feel better and go somewhere else as soon as possible. "Almost done" Said Rick, taking a few seconds to look at him. When he saw that the boy was still crying, he stopped wiping him and placed his left hand on the boy's hip to caress the zone with his thumb. "Don't be upset, it was just an accident" 

Daryl bit his bottom lip and his face tensed up. His cheeks were red and his tears hadn't dried yet. ""M s-sor-rry…" 

Rick shook his head. "Don't need to apologize, it's okay" He told the boy. The sheriff completed his task and left the wipes on the used diaper, which he rolled up and taped. Then, he grabbed a fresh diaper and lifted Daryl's legs up and off the cloth to place the diaper under the boy's bottom. He spread some rash cream and sprinkled some baby powder on his skin. Once he was done, he taped the sides of the diaper and put his pants back on. "It's done" He told Daryl, who quickly stood up and stormed out to the backyard. 

Rick sighed deeply. Wasn't that what Daryl had wanted all along? Didn't he want to be treated like a baby? That had Rick so confused; what the hell did Daryl want, then? Anyway, he didn't have much time to get mad at the boy because he soon realized that he was mad at himself. Had he lost his mind? Why had that stupid instinct taken over him when he noticed that Daryl was upset after having messed his diaper. He didn't know why he cared so much, nor did he understand why he didn't even get mad in that moment, when he knew that that was the only thing he prayed for Daryl not to do. And now he couldn't stop thinking that he would have to do it many more times until the virus was gone and Daryl felt well enough to be himself again. It was just great, he would have to wait until that happened and meanwhile he'd have to wipe his friend's ass who knows until when. Things just got harder and harder, it seemed.   
The problem was that each day spent with Daryl made it harder for Rick to get mad at him. He couldn't deny he enjoyed the other man's company; he liked feeling that someone needed him, even though he lied to himself when he thought he would be a lot happier if he could just live on his own, in silence. No, he definitely enjoyed taking care of Daryl, and loved seeing the boy so enthusiastic-- No! He had promised himself he wouldn't make those same mistakes he had made two years earlier, when Lori had told him that they were going to have a baby, which turned out to be Shane's in the end. He still felt his heart ache when he remembered her leave their home forever, taking the unborn child that was supposed to be his with her. He couldn't let himself believe he would ever have a baby, he couldn't let himself have his heart broken again. Even though he did feel more free when he accepted how he felt about Daryl, he didn't dare to think about it as something that could stay that way.


End file.
